Bahari is an American
alt pop,
electronic and dark pop
musical duo, previously a trio,
composed of Ruby Carr and Natalia Panzarella. Sidney Sartini left the band in 2018.
History
Formation, signing with Interscope and ''Dancing on the Sun'' (2014–2017)
The group consists of vocalist and keyboardist Ruby Carr, who is from
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
but was raised in
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
; vocalist and bassist Natalia Panzarella, from
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
but raised in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. They met at a production team in
Rock Mafia's studio while working in each member's individual projects. The girls met and started making music together and formed the group, then called Bahari.
They signed with
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...
and the first song they wrote, "Wild Ones", was released as their debut single on December 30, 2014.
It gained popularity online, reaching more than 40 million streams on
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
and being featured in TV series ''
Teen Wolf
''Teen Wolf'' is a 1985 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Rod Daniel and written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman. Michael J. Fox stars as the title character, a high school student whose ordinary life is changed when he discover ...
'' and ''
The Royals''.
The music video was released on April 5, 2016, directed by Darnell Williams.
They also appeared in the song "
Addicted to a Memory", featured on
Zedd
Anton Zaslavski (; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a German record producer and DJ. His stage name, Zedd, was derived from ''zed'', the Z#Name and pronunciation, English pronunciation, barring American English, for ...
's second studio album ''
True Colors''.
Their debut
extended play
An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
, ''Dancing on the Sun'' was released on May 13, 2016, with the title track being the first single. Its music video, filmed in the
Sequoia National Forest and directed by Marcus Haney was released as an
Apple Music
Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
exclusive on May 5, 2018.
It impacted
contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...
on May 10, 2018, and appeared on TV shows ''
Supergirl
Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...
'' and ''
So You Think You Can Dance''.
They also released music videos for the songs "Altar of the Sun"
and "Reasons", also directed by Haney.
During summer 2016, they toured as a supporting act for
Birdy as well as for
Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, producer, and businesswoman. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), a ...
's
Revival Tour.
On January 13, 2017, a collaboration with
Grey
Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...
called "I Miss You" was released, with its music video directed by Tobias Nathan being released on April 13, 2017.
On January 20, 2017, a cover of
The Youngbloods
The Youngbloods was an American rock band consisting of Jesse Colin Young (vocals, bass, guitar), Jerry Corbitt (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Lowell "Banana" Levinger (guitar and electric piano), and Joe Bauer (drums). Despite receiv ...
, "
Get Together" was put out as a single. Its music video, directed by Darnell Williams and Sam Sturges, was released on January 24, 2017,
and the track was featured on the TV series ''
Riverdale''.
Departure from Interscope, self-released singles and exit of Sidney Sartini (2018)
After leaving Interscope, they released some independent singles through 2018; "Fucked Up" on February, which music video was directed by Zac Wolf and premiered in May;
the promotional
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (musician), Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely know ...
cover "
For What It's Worth" in March; "Savage" in April
and "Chasers" in July.
These releases marked an evolution from the band's initial sound to a more "edgy"
pop and
electronic approach.
Release of their debut album was set in fall 2018.
On December 7, 2018, Bahari announced on the band's official Twitter that Sidney Sartini had "made the choice to go her own way and leave Bahari." They added, "we support her with all of our hearts and love her endlessly."
Their last performance as a trio was October 18, 2018.
Collaborations, signing with Epic Records and ''Forget You'' (2019-present)
During 2019, Bahari were featured in
Illenium
Nicholas Daniel "Nick" Miller (born December 26, 1990), professionally known as Illenium (stylized in all caps), is an American musician, DJ, music producer, and songwriter. He has released five studio albums, his most recent being ''Illenium'', ...
's single "
Crashing", later included on his debut album ''
Ascend''. They also released some self-released singles as ":(" (also named "Sad Face"), their collaboration with
Sultan & Shepard and Rock Mafia "Miles to Your Heart" and "Gameboy".
In 2020 Bahari accompanied
Elohim
''Elohim'' ( ) is a Hebrew word meaning "gods" or "godhood". Although the word is plural in form, in the Hebrew Bible it most often takes singular verbal or pronominal agreement and refers to a single deity, particularly but not always the Go ...
on her US "Group Therapy Tour." They later signed with
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
.
Their first release with the label was a remix featuring
Bia of their previously released viral hit "Savage" on July 17, 2020, along its music video directed by Russell Tandy.
On July 31, the duo released their single "Waking Up the Neighbors", which was initially set to be included in their debut studio album. The music video, directed by SVN QNS, premiered the same day.
Two more singles "Bipolar" and "Jackie Kennedy" were released on March 5, 2021. The music video for the first, directed by Michael Jurkovac, was unveiled the same day
while the one for the second, directed by Nate Mohler, premiered on April 16. Their second EP ''Forget You'' was released on July 9. It was followed by the singles "Ways of Love" and "All Around Me" with Cody Lovaas unveiled the same year. In 2022 they dropped their
Yoshi Flower collaboration "Hot Mess"
and
synth
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
ballad "Destructive".
In 2023, their single "Kills Me" was released.
Band members
* Ruby Carr – vocals, keyboard (2014–present)
* Natalia Panzarella – vocals, bass (2014–present)
* Sidney Sartini – vocals, guitar (2014–2018)
Discography
Extended plays
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Promotional singles
Music videos
As lead artist
As featured artist
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahari
Musical duos from California
Musical trios from California
American electronic music groups
American indie pop groups
Musical groups established in 2014
2014 establishments in California
American all-female bands
South African all-female bands
All-female pop bands
All-female electronic bands